Tiger the Tiger has been the top cat in the cereal aisle for a long time. He's been roaring his trademark "They're Grrrrreat!" as the mascot of Kellogg's
Sugar Frosted Flakes since 1952.
And his keepers at Kellogg's are mighty protective of their striped meal ticket.
How do I know? Back here, I wrote about how Kellogg's objected to Exxon using its own popular tiger mascot in signage and advertising for its Tiger Mart convenient stores located inside the oil refinery's service stations. The resulting lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Well, forty years ago in March 1986, Kellogg's took on the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee over the cartoon tiger mascot it selected to serve as the emblem for the 1986 Asian Games, as well as the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea.
Popular columnist Scott Ostler wrote about the whole affair in the humorous article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 23, 1986. Coincidentally, the nationally syndicated columnist just announced his retirement just a few days ago, after writing his last column for the San Francisco Chronicle.
I like how Mr. Ostler imagines that Tony the Tiger naturally would hang out with other ad mascots, including Reddy Kilowatt. It's a funny, creative column.
I can see how Kellogg's would object to the cute Korean tiger cub. The Olympic mascot (named
Hodori) does seem a little derivative of Tony the Tiger, or at least the fruit
loops of his loins. Check out this illustration from the back of a 1968 cereal box with the whole Tiger family, purring with delight over the 1960s General Electric prizes that were part of a giveaway.
Hodori is cute, however. And he has somewhat different coloring etc. And a hat.
But Hodori looks like he was designed by someone who had never seen a real tiger, just a cartoon one on a cereal box.
And note that the designer didn't use
this tiger (
Cool Cat, a lame late 1960s Warner Bros. Looney Tunes character) for inspiration. Nope, he went with the Grrrrreat One.
Anyway, Mr. Ostler's retirement has really rocked the San Fransisco Bay Area, where he is quite beloved. Here's wishing him a happy retirement!
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Tony has showed up on this blog before – when he was 'freelancing' for the
Giant Tiger department store chain.
Tony the Tiger was as much a voice as an image. "They're gr-r-r-eat!" was the work of Thurl Ravenscroft, a bass vocalist who did much work for Disney. I did a post last year devoted to the records he made as a solo singer and as a member of the Mellomen quartet.
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Mr. Ravenscroft gave the world the Christmas classic, "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch" back in 1966(SIXTY years ago?)
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